Letter: Respect Our Rights, Too

In response to Steve Nelson’s column, “Scouts Aren’t Alone In Tolerating Bigotry” (Feb. 17), I say if Nelson doesn’t want religion forced into his institutions or his own life, then he should recognize the right of others to not be forced to accept gays or gay culture into their institutions or lives. It’s quite simple, really.

I certainly don’t deny gays’ full humanity and their claim to all normal human rights, as I’m sure is the case with most caring Christians but gays should form their own Scouts organization if that’s what they really want to do. Nelson ought to be able to understand that true Christians stand for something very positive and are not simply trying to take others’ fun, or rights away.

The Boy Scouts of America should design a new merit badge for kicking the can down the road. It seems a strong suit of the organization, although it is hardly alone in that regard. I refer to the recent decision, or nondecision, regarding sexual identity. Just as they appeared poised to join the civilized world by removing the ban on …

To the Editor: Tim Baldwin’s letter of Feb. 22 suggests that “gays should form their own Scouts organization” and leave the existing one to maintain its historical bias against gays. Baldwin seems to be laboring under the misapprehension that the American institution of Scouting is the private property of a particular religious constituency, one that apparently recoils from America’s increasing …